Don’t ditch GCSE results day – as a teacher, I can tell you just how disastrous that would be | Nadeine Asbali

An app could never replace the emotion of opening that envelope at your school and the support that staff can offer if things don’t go to planEvery GCSE results day, school halls buzz with the entire spectrum of human emotion. There’s pride and regret, utter elation and total despair. Relief that all that hard work has finally paid off, and usually a bit of bemusement when five years of doodling at the back of class has, somehow, culminated in a decent grade. For us teachers, it’s a chance to congratulate, to say goodbye, to commiserate or celebrate.But in Manchester and the West Midlands this year, things will look very different. The government is trialling a new app, giving students the option to receive their results online instead of going into school. The plan is to eventually roll this out nationwide, following the lead of Scotland, which brought in a results app in 2019.Nadeine Asbali is the author of Veiled Threat: On Being Visibly Muslim in Britain, and a secondary school teacher in London Continue reading...

May 8, 2025 - 11:11

Don’t ditch GCSE results day – as a teacher, I can tell you just how disastrous that would be | Nadeine Asbali

An app could never replace the emotion of opening that envelope at your school and the support that staff can offer if things don’t go to plan

Every GCSE results day, school halls buzz with the entire spectrum of human emotion. There’s pride and regret, utter elation and total despair. Relief that all that hard work has finally paid off, and usually a bit of bemusement when five years of doodling at the back of class has, somehow, culminated in a decent grade. For us teachers, it’s a chance to congratulate, to say goodbye, to commiserate or celebrate.

But in Manchester and the West Midlands this year, things will look very different. The government is trialling a new app, giving students the option to receive their results online instead of going into school. The plan is to eventually roll this out nationwide, following the lead of Scotland, which brought in a results app in 2019.

Nadeine Asbali is the author of Veiled Threat: On Being Visibly Muslim in Britain, and a secondary school teacher in London Continue reading...